Don't Forget Monday's Partial Lunar Eclipse!
We may be getting geared-up for the historic Venus Transit, but the moon has a little surprise in store the day before.
-
-
Sun Jun 3, 2012 01:46 PM ET
Content provided by Mike Wall, SPACE.com
(0) Comments | Leave a Comment
THE GIST
- June 5 may be the Transit of Venus, but as a celestial warmup, the Earth's shadow will partially block the full moon the day before.
- Solar eclipses are always accompanied by lunar eclipses, either two weeks before or two weeks after.
On Tuesday (June 5), Venus will trek across the sun's face from Earth's perspective, marking the last such transit of Venus until 2117. In a sort of celestial warmup, the full moon will dive through the Earth's shadow on Monday morning to produce a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible to observers throughout parts of North America, Asia and the Pacific region, weather permitting.
ANALYSIS: Our Exoplanet View of Venus Is Coming
The lunar eclipse comes two weeks after the May 20 annular solar eclipse that enthralled skywatchers around the world, and that's no accident.
Solar eclipses are always accompanied by lunar eclipses, either two weeks before or two weeks after. The moon travels halfway in its orbit around the Earth in that time, forming another straight line with our planet and the sun. (In solar eclipses, the moon blots out the sun, while lunar eclipses occur when Earth's shadow covers all or part of the moon.)
The same parts of the world that were treated to the May 20 "ring of fire" solar eclipse will thus be favorably placed for Monday's partial lunar eclipse. Much of central and western North America should get a good show, as should eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific region. The full moon of June is known as the Strawberry Moon since it occurs during the short strawberry-harvesting season this month.
PHOTOS: Lunar Eclipse: Readers' Photos
The eclipse begins in earnest at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), when the moon first contacts the umbra, the dark inner portion of Earth's shadow. The umbra might appear dark and relatively colorless to the naked eye, but binoculars or a telescope may show it glowing dimly orange, red or brown.
The eclipse peaks at 7:04 a.m. EDT (1104 GMT), when 37 percent of the moon will be in shadow, and ends an hour later, at 8:06 a.m. EDT (1206 GMT).
Observers in Europe will miss out on Monday's lunar eclipse, as will part of the United States East Coast, where the moon will set before it enters the dark umbra. Most viewers in the Pacific Time Zone, however, should be able to see a considerable portion of the two-hour eclipse.
Places on the other side of the International Date Line -- such as Australia, New Zealand and Asia -- will see the eclipse on Monday evening rather than Monday morning.
PHOTOS: A Total Eclipse of the Moon
- Photos: Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012
- June Lunar Eclipse - Bite Out Of The Strawberry Moon | Video
- Skywatching Telescopes and Accessories
- end quote from:
So, the full moon has a partial eclipse on Monday and on Tuesday watch for the historic transit of Venus across the sun.
Is it just me or is this a whole bunch of interesting stuff happening in the sky? First, a few weeks ago on Sunday it was the full Annular Eclipse of the Sun that I witnessed with my daughter and son and friends in Mt. Shasta, now Monday there is a partial eclipse of the full moon and Tuesday there is the historic transit of Venus across the sun. It's a pretty interesting year any way you look at it.
No comments:
Post a Comment